The food children eat, and the habits they develop around food in their early years, sets the pattern for the rest of their lives. The importance of our role as an early years setting in providing the right nutrition and laying the foundations of healthy habits is therefore greater than ever.

At Rosebank and Naturegarten we have been working with The Early Years Nutrition (EYN) Partnership and their Registered Nutritionist Nicola, to achieve the EYN Quality Mark. This Quality Mark represents the attainment of specific quality standards in menu provision, the eating environment and education.

Our journey began with receiving our ‘Committed Certificate’ for demonstrating our commitment to improving nutrition and establishing good dietary habits. Through our work with Nicola we have developed our knowledge of vitamins and minerals in certain food groups and used this to develop our menus and introduce new foods to the children. We have also developed more learning opportunities for the children and become more confident in supporting our parents with healthy eating advice.

We are very pleased that we have now reached the Accredited Level of the Early Years Nutrition Partnership Quality Mark at both Rosebank and Naturegarten and two staff: Harriet and Kim have both completed the level 3 CACHE award in nutrition and hydration in the early years.

We are very excited to be continuing on our quality journey towards reaching the Advanced stage….we will keep you updated!